As both Forbes and the Chicago Daily Herald's Mike Imrem pondered the Blackhawks' fast franchise turnaround, the Herald posted two separate articles comparing Jonathan Toews to a young Steve Yzerman, Pat Caputo declared the Red Wings-Blackhawks series a fait accompli, and the Detroit Free Press's Tom Walsh noted that four of the eight remaining NHL and NBA teams are owned by Michigan corporations...

The Blackhawks attempted to make adjustments to rebound from their 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. Patrick Kane told the Associated Press's Larry Lage that he specifically had to step up after registering no shots and finishing at -3 on Sunday:

May 18, Associated Press: Kane, though, acknowledged Chicago can't be successful if he's held without a point as he was in Detroit's 5-2 win Sunday.

"That's why I was brought in here as a draft pick,'' Kane, the first overall selection in 2007, said Monday. "I'm not out there to be blocking shots and fighting guys.''

The reigning NHL Rookie of the Year scored eight goals over the first two rounds against Calgary and Vancouver, but quickly found out his crafty moves and soft hands can be negated by Detroit. Kane was held without a shot after getting blanked in the column just three times during the regular season, including once last month against the Red Wings.

When Kane has the puck, he has to deal with six-time Norris Trophy winning defenseman Nick Lidstrom in his face and a slew of backchecking forwards.

"Every time I got the puck, it seemed like two or three guys were collapsing on me,'' Kane said.

Jonathan Toews suggested that the Red Wings shut down the Blackhawks, period, as they showed Chicago that the level of play in the Conference Finals is, to say the least, a cut above anything the Blackhawks have experienced before:

"It's a different game now,'' said Toews, who contributed a combined 10 points in the first two rounds. "Everything is a little tighter. We didn't play well enough against their best players. But we can play looser because it's not going to get worse than that.''

May 18, NHL.com: "They certainly have a lot of speed through the neutral zone and they always seem to be attacking with speed," center Patrick Sharp said. "We need to put our heads together and try to find a way to slow them up through the neutral zone. It seems like whenever they get rid of the puck they're putting it in position to get it back. They're a veteran team, lots of experience -- they know how to play well. It's going to take a big effort to beat them."
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"The Wings are a fun team to watch," Sharp said. "They have such success with the way they play that maybe we changed our style of play throughout the game. (Sunday) I don't think we were skating as well as we could have and we got off our game plan. That's something we'll talk about and try to get better at for Game 2."

Brent Seabrook, who suggested that he would "forget about" his mediocre performance in Game 1, believed that the Hawks got caught trying to play the Red Wings' game:

"I think we were trying to force things," added defenseman Brent Seabrook. "I think we were trying to force things from our own game. We're a young team and sometimes we get away from our game plan a little bit and we can't do that, especially now and especially against a team like Detroit. They're highly offensive and they feed off that stuff. We have to definitely shore that up and stick to our game plan."

Overall, however, the Hawks feel that they simply need to step up their level of play:

"It's different from the first two (rounds)," defenseman Brent Seabrook said. "The intensity is up; everything is stepped up another level. It's the four best teams in the playoffs. It's hard to describe, just can't find the words to do it. It's definitely a different thing. Everybody is out there at the top of their game, at the top of their level. It's a fun game but at the same time it's one of those ones that you're worried about making mistakes sometimes and you can't do that."
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"It's obviously a step up," [Patrick Kane] said. "You can go from regular season to playoffs to the second round to Game 5 of the second round to Game 6, and here you are playing the Wings in the conference final. It's a dream come true but it's a challenge at times. For me and Jonathan and lot of younger guys in here, it's a good thing, too, because you want to present yourself as learning and taking your experience from this type of situation. It's a fun situation, you want to be in it."

Kris Versteeg banged the, "We're not just happy to be here" drum...again...

"You can't really get caught up in the moment," the Calder Trophy finalist told NHL.com. "It's more something you'll look back on after the season and be proud of the accomplishment of where you're at. Right now we're in the conference finals and the only thing we're thinking about is winning. We're not satisfied by being here. We have a lot of work to do and we have a long road ahead of us."

At the other end of the rink, the Red Wings told the Chicago Tribune's Rick Morrissey that they plan on continuing to make Kane's life difficult...

May 18, Chicago Tribune: "When you give him space and time, he will create something," Zetterberg said. "I didn't think he played as bad as everybody says. ... He can create something out of nothing."

Said Cleary: "He's got great vision, can pass great and has a good shot. He's a real crafty little player. We try to limit his time and space."

As you might have picked up on, "time and space" is the Wings' mantra, not a concept from "Back to the Future." Don't give Kane time to make something happen. And the way to do that is to be all over him. He said every time he touched the puck Sunday, two or three Detroit players were on him.

Both teams spent Monday trying to shape perception heading into Game 2. The Wings did not want to give any indication that the Blackhawks are relative babes. Even though they are.

"It's an easy thing to talk about because they've got some players that are younger than us," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "Experience is a great thing when you have it. When you don't have it, you think it's overrated. Do I think it's going to determine who's going to win this series? Absolutely not."

Zetterberg expanded upon his comments to NHL.com's Brian Compton...

May 18, NHL.com: "We can always be better," said Wings center Henrik Zetterberg, who had a goal and an assist and was a plus-3 in Sunday's 5-2 win. "I thought (Kane) was dangerous a few times. When you give him space and time, he will create something. I didn't think he played as bad as everyone says. It's small things ... one of his passes go through and it's open nets. You just have to be aware when he's out there because he can create something out of nothing."

Nicklas Lidstrom and Dan Cleary agreed...

"I think the whole group of five out there against that line did a good job," Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "They're shifty players, they're very gifted and they're good in the offensive zone. You want to try to stay close to them all the time and not give them time and space. When they're coming with speed, sometimes you've got to back off. But I think we did a good job against that line."

So good that Wings goalie Chris Osgood did not have to face a single shot from Kane. Honestly, can Detroit really improve on that?

"He didn't have any ... you know ... I don't know," Cleary said as he chuckled. "I think we did a good job on him. You can always do better. We did a good job with their time and space and their speed and Kane's creativity. These guys are good players. They're going to have chances and they're going to score. You've just got to limit the quality."

And the Red Wings feel that, overall, they need to limit those quality chances by limiting turnovers. The Wings coughed up the puck 11 times, and coach Mike Babcock will have none of that on Tuesday:

"We turned the puck over way too often," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "Turnovers just fuel the fire of a transition team. When you haven't played a team in the playoffs, you try to adjust and tidy up and that's what we have to do. Our emotional engagement in the first 10 minutes wasn't good enough, so ideally we'll be better at that tomorrow."

Kris Draper also believes that the Red Wings' best defence involves sustaining possession and control of the puck in the Blackhawks' zone:

"It's so necessary ... you know how dangerous these guys are," Wings forward Kris Draper said. "Against a team like that and against players like that, you want to try to make them play in their own end as much as possible. We've got some great players that can do that. They're so good, they're going to get their opportunities. You've just got to try and limit them."

The Blackhawks' biggest problem, however, involves the fact that the player matched up against Kane and Toews loves what he's doing:

"Just to have a chance to play against good players and try to keep them from not scoring as much as possible is fun," Zetterberg said. "It's one thing our line has been doing for a few series now. It's fun."

Then there's this, as the CBC's blogger noted:

May 18, CBC Sports: Chicago's 5-2 loss to Detroit in Sunday's series opener at Joe Louis Arena added the latest chapter to the tough luck that Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has endured in Stanley Cup competition against the Red Wings.

The setback dropped him to 5-17 overall in playoff action against Detroit. Quenneville has lost four previous series to the Wings and each time after defeating his team (1997, 1998, 2002 St. Louis Blues, 2008 Colorado Avalanche) Detroit has gone on to win the Stanley Cup.

"Different teams, different situations," Quenneville explained.

"We didn't represent our team very well against them last season," he added about Colorado's sweep at the hands of the Wings, which ultimately led to Quenneville's dismissal as coach of the Avalanche.

In his defence, many teams have been unable to come up with answers when faced with stopping the powerful Wings.

"They're a great team," Quenneville said. "Their depth, their strength, their high-end skill, their balance, their experience. This is a team that has a lot of weapons."

Against the Wings, Quenneville is 21-50-12 overall. He's 9-30-5 at Joe Louis Arena[.]

Here's hoping that his losing streak continues (and the Windsor Star's Bob Duff covered the same topic in a for-Tuesday article).

While the Red Wings' website posted a 1:52 interview with Brad Stuart...

A 3:06 clip of Henrik Zetterberg's media scrum...

And a 1:15 interview with Marian Hossa:

TSN also posted a 2:53 clip of Quenneville's off-day presser and a 1:35 interview with Dan Cleary being asked about his Newfoundland roots by John Liu, who then picks on Henrik Zetterberg about "screech" and "kissing a cod."

According to the Red Wings website's game notes, Paul Devorski and Dennis LaRue will referee Tuesday's game, with Derek Amell and Pierre Racicot working the lines.

Update 7:41 PM: WXYT posted a 1:29 interview with Chris Osgood, who discusses the Blackhawks' talent and speed, as well as Detroit's ability to turn their games around after playing the Ducks to some extent because they feel very proud of the fact that they represent their community's hockey hopes:

Update #3 8:53 PM: TSN also posted a 42-second clip about Dan Cleary's goal-scoring during an OHL'er as picked upon by Kris Draper, and Dave Hodge gives Chris Osgood a "thumbs up" for praising Nicklas Lidstrom.

Update #4 12:54 AM: The Detroit Free Press posted a 15-image gallery of the Red Wings and Blackhawks' off-day practices, the Detroit News posted a 10-image gallery of the teams' off-day practices, and two more videos hit the web:

TSN's Ray Ferraro, Bob McKenzie, Darren Pang, and James Duthie discussed what the Blackhawks need to tweak to win on Tuesday in a 2:52 clip (did the Red Wings do anything right?), and WXYZ posted a 1:19 off-day clip which includes comments from Mike Babcock and a disconsolate Patrick Kane: